My Worst Nightmare As A Parent!
Huck handling a Doughnut Plant doughnut like it's no big deal.
So. It’s a cold, drizzly night. A guy and a girl are all alone. AND THEN THERE WAS A HOOK IN THE CAR DOOR!
Does anybody know how that story actually goes? Anyway, that’s not my nightmare as a parent. My nightmare as a parent is choking. And also vomit. And then when you combine choking with gagging with vomit? Yep, punch my ticket, I’m done.
The other day Huck done up and choked on a Cheerio. A Cheerio! The most baby-friendly food in existence! He wasn’t really choking, okay, he was gagging. It was stuck just-so, and I was remembering what I had read before about choking and gagging and when to intervene and when not to intervene . . .
(after the jump)
I read that you should always interfere when there is choking and your baby cannot breathe. ALWAYS. But that when he can breathe and he is just gagging a little because the food is in a weird spot that you should let it ride. Baby needs to learn how to manipulate the food in his mouth on his own, and if you’re not careful and go for the finger sweep, you could accidentally lodge it in his windpipe, and then the choking really begins.
So, this Cheerio, I was watching it. Huck was breathing normally but gagging, and then gasping, and then breathing, and so on. And I was frozen in the middle of the room, waiting in a panic.
And then I got nervous, picked him up, and thwacked him on the back. At which point he gagged a big old gag and then threw it all up. Offending Cheerio, plus the last 15 or so Cheerios. Not pleasant.
He was totally fine, unfazed, squirmed to get down and went back to eating Cheerios. Meanwhile I was traumatized. My first thought was “NO MORE SOLID FOODS, EVER!”
Since then Huck has choked on pizza crust, a pretzel, and even a tiiiiiny bite of gnocchi! All things he could formerly handle with aplomb! It’s so rude!
I’ve decided it’s just a phase, and that he’s eating more aggressively than normal and he’s just outdoing his own ability, but that those abilities will soon catch up and all will be fine. Yes? And I’ll just watch him like a hawk more than usual (great).
Choking. Your biggest fear ever? Or NO, BIGGEST FEAR EVERRRRRR!?
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I am there. And my kid is littler– 7 months. He’s gagging on mushed avocados. I am terrified of cheerios.
My son truly choked on a stupid little rice cracker. He wasn’t breathing and started changing colours. A few good whacks on the back and he was ok, but we definitely held off on solids for a few days. He was 7 months old at the time, and he’s now 9 months. He can eat pretty much anything like a champ now, though.
My worst fear happened last month when my 5yo broke his arm right in front of me. I will take choking and blood any day to the sight of that horror. My daughter, who is now 3, did go through a phase of choking on her food and then passing out, which was really, really frightening. Luckily, she grew out of it. Mama is still in therapy.
Great post! Good luck. This too shall pass…
Choking has always been my biggest fear with all three of my kids and I always wondered how I would react if it ever happened, especially as I am paralyzed whenever my kids throw up (seriously – my husband always has to step in). Cut to May of this year and we’re at the airport waiting for our flight to England to introduce our youngest to my family. She was 9½ months at the time, and just starting to get the hang of table food. We gave her a small piece of bread to munch on, and then some more. Suddenly I noticed she couldn’t breathe. She was turning blue. I calmly put my spoon down, grabbed her from my husband, pointed her head to the floor and whacked her on the back. That first piece of bread, now a chunk of stodgy, soggy goop, came right up. It was only then I started shaking and crying. My worst fear had come true! I remain very proud of how I handled it though, by staying calm and not panicking. The baby is 13 months old now, and eats nothing but table foods, except for bread. I still won’t give her anything bread-like.
My 6 month old choked like that on the first cheerio I gave her. I know that feeling!
i dont think thats the worset thing a parent experiance. the worsed is when you get mis diagnosed from a stupid docter and you dont take the meds you were given and cps ( children services ) comes nocking at youre door to come take youre baby away for not takeing the meds i was told to take when i got mis diagnosed and now they have screwed with us so much they wont give him back. sry everone. still a very upset parent that wants her baby back from goverment
I agree choking but I am one of those new moms that also gets super skidish about breathing while sleeping. She sleeps face down at times and it scares the daylights out of me! With the choking at least there is something I can attempt to do about that (whether it works or not is questionable) but to stop breathing in her sleep keeps me awake at night.
My little boy has been on solids for almost 6 months and the thing he always chokes on is his water! Not food, just water!
My daughter went through a gagging phase. Foods she would normall down with no problem would come right back up all over the floor. And then she would go right back to eatting after and be fine the rest of the night. So definitely not sick, but I’m sure glad it only lasted a few weeks.
Ben has the worlds smallest throat parts (amazing considering the size of his head). He used to get choked on EVERYTHING. Seriously, a meal didn’t go by where I wasn’t sticking my finger down his throat to fish something out. To this day, the boy STILL cannot eat fried mozarella! Chokes/gags on it EVERYTIME. Imagine having to pull a wad of stringy mozarella out of ones throat! GAG!
my son choked on a grape once when he was like 18 months. never give a baby whole graps! my friend did it and they are the perfect size to get completely lodged in the windpipe. i handled it but afterwards there was much crying–me not him.
I am absolutely petrified of my children gagging and/or throwing up. Camryn once choked on one of those square-shaped pretzels–a piece of it was lodged in her throat and she was making that horrible rasping, gagging noise and crying. I had to dislodge it, and I am SO THANKFUL no one else was there to see me. I was SCREAMING. And my hands shook for hours afterward. HOURS. Tamsin recently choked on a toddler snackie puff thing her sister gave her without permission, and she began wheezing and crying and crawling toward me as fast as she could. Again, my hands shook for hours. I don’t know WHAT I’ll do if they barf in front of me (three barfing episodes total in this house, two in the middle of the night). I’ve discovered I have an infinite capacity to clean barf up, but NO capacity to see (OR HEAR!!!) it come out. I’m a shaking, sweating, crying mess. I would give anything to handle it coolly. It’s not going to happen.
My worst nightmare is to have one of my children develop a degenerative disease that robs them of their future (someone I know is dealing with this right now.)
Another worst-nightmare scenario is a car accident or other traumatic injury that again – robs them of their future and/or quality of life.
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